Sky Releases Exclusive Footage of “Crimes of Grindelwald”

Sky Cinema released exclusive new footage from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald for its audience today. In this new five-minute clip, the cast of Crimes of Grindelwald and J.K. Rowling discuss the characters and where they are headed in their next adventure in Paris.

The segment begins with an introduction from our favorite Hufflepuff, Eddie Redmayne (or Newt Scamander, if you prefer). As he informs the audience that the first Fantastic Beast film is now available to watch through Sky Cinema for subscribers, he also summarizes the first film to “catch up” those who haven’t seen it yet.

Unfortunately for those of us who have watched it at least half a dozen times since November 2016, this first part of the video takes up a majority of the exclusive segment, though it’s cute to see Eddie and Katherine Waterston banter back and forth, and the three minutes of summary is worth it for their humor and on-screen family-like friendship.

The exclusive “new footage” is primarily composed of the trailer broken down into fragments with commentary from J.K. Rowling and the cast. Jo begins by saying that she thinks fans will be surprised by the direction the new film is taking – assuring viewers that Crimes of Grindelwald has a “very different feeling without getting into the meat of the story.”

Ezra Miller and Redmayne then reassure fans that Jo’s imagination is still amazing and brilliant. As Ezra explains, “J.K. Rowling is not just continuing a story. She’s taking it to a new level.”

Jo continues to say that, in the new film, we “stumble across quite a few people you’ll recognize from the Potter books.” The key words there are “quite a few.” How many is “quite a few”? Who else will show up? We already know that we will see a younger Dumbledore (Jude Law), the return of Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), and a Lestrange (Leta, played by Zoë Kravitz) we’ve never met before but at least the name is familiar. Who else can she mean? “Quite a few” seems to imply more than three.

One of the best parts of the clip is seeing Jude Law discuss his role as young Dumbledore. He enjoyed going back to see “what made the man [Dumbledore] we all loved.” Playing his character is an “extraordinary experience.”

As Newt travels to Paris, Jo comments on how fun it is to have the characters travel to different places and explore the wizarding community there. Perhaps we’ll see more Beauxbatons? Redmayne goes on to promise that we will get more depth and history to the characters we were introduced to in the first film – which is something we’re all craving.

In terms of plotline, Jo says that this movie deals with the rise of Grindelwald. We can expect things to become darker as he gains power and followers and develops conflict for the story. Alison Sudol makes an appearance toward the very end, saying that this film is “very important” to the main quartet’s “evolution” as well as the wizarding world’s “time and history.”

The clip ends with a final cliff-hanging quote from our favorite author.

Things are becoming a lot more complicated and peoples’ allegiances are being exposed, and that, I suppose, is the thing that interests me most – human nature.

The segment ends with a dramatic “Hedwig’s Theme” and the Crime of Grindelwald logo. The clip is exciting since we’ve had so little to go on for the new film – especially since the film is only a few months away. At this point two years ago, several trailers had been released and set visit reports had been cleared for release in April. This new footage from Sky Cinema left a lot to be desired.

Here’s to hoping that a lot more Crimes of Grindelwald material is to come soon – especially with San Diego Comic-Con just around the corner! What are you looking forward to the most?

#PotterHistory

August 1, 2006 – J.K. Rowling begins her first trip to the United States in over six years by holding a press conference in NYC with Stephen King and John Irving, prior to the first night of Harry, Carrie and Garp.